Aston Villa has signed Ross Barkley on loan for a season with Chelsea.
England become the fifth signing from Villa’s window, after the arrivals of Ollie Watkins, Bertrand Traoré, Emiliano Martínez and Matty Cash.
After securing Barkley’s signature, Villa’s head coach, Dean Smith, told the club’s website, “Capturing a player of Ross’ quality is a genuine blow to our club and I’m sure he will thrive here and on our team. “
Barkley was a member of the Chelsea squad that left the Carabao Cup for consequences at Tottenham on Tuesday night, not being pulled off the bench through Frank Lampard.
He made 31 appearances at all festivals for Chelsea last season, but struggled to retain a normal spot in the midst of the Matthew Kovacic, Mason Mount and Ruben Loftus-Cheek festival.
The signing by Kai Havertz’s Chelsea from Bayer Leverkusen at that window probably made it even more difficult for Barkley to get a normal playing time at Stamford Bridge.
Villa has started the season smartly, winning all four games so far, and Barkley’s arrival will cheer on a midfielder who already has the talents of Jack Grealish, John McGinn and Conor Hourihane.
The club is also interested in borrowing from Chelsea midfielder Loftus-Cheek, who has been ruled in the last four Blues groups.
However, Villa cannot single out the 24-year-old, as Premier League clubs can only recruit one player on loan from another at any time.
Summer merchandise closes at 11pm on Monday, October 5 with an activity dinner scheduled on the day of the move-in deadline at Sky Sports News and our Sky Sports platforms.
A window reserved for domestic markets for Premier League-EFL agreements takes place from five October and ends on Friday, October 16 at 5pm. Follow all news and research on SSN and Sky Sports virtual platforms, adding our Transfer Center Blog.